Waterspout turned tornado touches down in Crystal River, FL at 6:00 pm on Father's Day
View the video at this link:
www.facebook.com/1059020944/videos/pcb.10229661170927762/311560955357720.
RIGHT: Still shot from video posted on Facebook by Tailor Burbank.
View the video at this link:
www.facebook.com/OurLife/videos/1882483918885488.
Crystal River, Florida - Around 6:00 pm on Sunday afternoon, June 17, 2024, a tornado touched down in Crystal River. The tornado began as a waterspout in Kings Bay and was classified as a tornado once it touched ground. The tornado was rated EF-0, with sustained winds of 65 miles per hour.
No injuries were reported, and most of the damage reported was in the area of Ft. Island Trail and Roy Thomas Road. Crystal River Mayor Joe Meek said the damaged structures were unoccupied and located outside the city limit.
Mayor Meek shared information from the National Weather Service (NWS) office in Ruskin, Florida, in the form of responses to questions received by the agency regarding the incident:
Did a confirmed tornado hit Crystal River on Sunday June 16 and what do we know about it?
Yes, this was a confirmed waterspout which is part of the "tornado family". A waterspout officially becomes a "tornado" when it impacts land, as this one did on Sunday as the waterspout traversed portions of Kings Bay and impacted the structures noted in the video. The damage was surveyed by Citrus County emergency management and coordinated with our NWS office here in Ruskin.
Was there a tornado watch or warning that went out for it?
No, there was not a tornado watch or warning issued for this event.
If there wasn’t a tornado watch or warning issued, why not?
A tornado watch is issued when there is a widespread potential of severe thunderstorms capable of producing land-based tornadoes. A tornado watch is not issued for waterspouts, which have the potential to form on many days of the year when enough rising air intersects with a developing shower or thunderstorm.
It is important to note that waterspouts can produce damage, as this one did, and people should avoid waterspouts. These waterspouts tend to weaken once impacting land, as the land then disconnects the circulation tube - and we often then see a remnant funnel before it dissipates. Also, radar systems can detect some waterspouts when their occurrence occurs near a radar.
The NWS Ruskin radar did detect all of the showers and thunderstorms across the Nature Coast, including Levy and Citrus counties - however, the radar data was not supportive of issuing a severe thunderstorm warning or tornado warning. The waterspout development was localized to an extremely small area, and the radar beam would not effectively sample the low-level rotation in the lowest 1,000 to 2,000 feet where this waterspout developed.
The damage rating for this particular waterspout turned land-based tornado is an EF-0 with 65 mph estimated wind.
An excellent resource on the difference between a true waterspout (which forms from circulating air near the surface of the water and extends upward to the base of a cloud) versus a tornado (which forms from a circulation deep inside a severe thunderstorm and extends down to the surface).
View additional information at the following links:
https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/waterspout.html
https://www.weather.gov/safety/tornado-ww
https://www.weather.gov/oun/efscale